Nigel Kinney’s $100 Black Death Build

So you may think that all of us that work here at the shop are ridiculously spoiled and ride around on $10,000 time trial machines, but you would be DEAD WRONG! Only some of us do. Some of our summer employees are penny pinching college students that are high on talent but low on funds.

So to inspire all you fellow penny pincher’s out there I bring you:Nigel Kinney’s $100 Gear West ‘Black Death Build’.

Nigel is one of our all-star mechanics that comes back to us every summer once school is out. His main sport is actually Biathlon (skiing & shooting), but he’s gotten into cycling and has some raw talent. He’s been upgraded to a Cat. 3 cyclist and has actually won some criteriums and road races in the last year, but up until recently has not done any time trials since he didn’t have a dedicated TT bike. But that all changed when he saw an old Trek Equinox frameset that had been warrantied due to it’s broken front dérailleur braze-on. Who needs a front derailleur anyway!

This is where it helps to have the mechanical skills to piece together a beast like this, as well as access to a bike shop basement and friends with odds and ends parts. With the frame, miscellaneous used and warrantied parts from the basement, and literally taking things out of the garbage, Nigel put together this bike for $100! I kid you not. And how does it perform you ask? The day he built it up he brought it over to the TNT time trial (our local Tuesday Night 11 mile TT) and he broke out a 25:05… averaging 26.3 mph!

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Published by Sean

Sean has been with Gear West Bike & Tri for 3 years now. His passions have shifted from straight up triathlete to mountain biking and gravel riding. During the peak season you will likely see him at many of the local races wrenching and in the shop doing much of the same. Stop in and say hi....
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Welcome to the official blog of Gear West Bike and Triathlon. We have enjoyed supporting the multisport community for over 20 years and look forward to sharing our knowledge with you. You can visit our store site at gearwestbike.com